Text Course II - Period 6

In his "Kritik der reinen Vernunft" (1781/1787), the first of his three critical works, Kant developed his famous as well as infamous philosophical 'Copernican turn' with respect to our knowledge claims. The significance of the KrV for the history of philosophy can hardly be overestimated. Kant's conception of 'transcendental philosophy' aims to supply philosophy with a completely new foundation, namely a 'critical' foundation. According to Kant, both metaphysics and empiricism are uncritical regarding their own presupposition. Hence, Kant's KrV not only establishes a new philosophical paradigm but at the same time positions this paradigm within the history of philosophy. For many philosophers, Kant's transcendental philosophy showed to be a source, a standard, and of course an instance that is in need of criticism itself. The history of philosophy cannot be understood properly without knowledge of Kant's philosophy. It seems that a philosophy that falls back behind to Kant's position does not have a long future. In the course, we study in great detail the Einleitung of the KrV (= 2e editie, B 1-30), parts from the Transzendentale Ästhetik and the Transzendentale Logik (Analytik der Begriffe). We start with the Einleitung, following the order of the sections, and hence start with the first section. It is recommended to have read the whole Einleitung before the first meeting. At least, students are supposed to have prepared §§ 1-3 (B 1-10) for the first meeting. For the further meetings too, students have to prepare themselves by studying the relevant text.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.